Jamie Chadwick is Williams’ new development driver

Williams has form when it comes to introducing new drivers into F1 - Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas all started their careers there. Now it’s got another new driver on its books, and she’s not a complete unknown.

Jamie Chadwick has won many things. The 21-year-old Brit starting karting when she was 11. In 2015 she won the British GT4 Championship, then in 2018 she became the first female driver to win a British F3 Championship race, and the first woman to win the MRF Challenge Championship. 

This year she's racing in the W Series - she won the first-ever race - and for Aston Martin in the VLN Endurance Championship (hence the Aston t-shirt), including an appearance at next month's N24.

And now she’s Williams’ new development driver, and a part of its Driver Academy. The team says this means “alongside a busy simulator programme, [Chadwick] will also attend three European races, starting at the British Grand Prix, and support the team in a number of media and marketing activities.”

Chadwick said it’s a “great honour” to join Williams, while deputy team principle Claire Williams (who watched Chadwick win the first W Series race), said she hopes the young driver’s appointment will help show “that motorsport is inclusive and exciting, be that as a driver or on the engineering side”.